Voter rolls fall slightly in county

GOP, Dems both lose about 1 pct.

October 25, 2013

Both Republicans and Democrats saw about a 1 percent drop in registered voters on the Warren County rolls over the last six months.

Democratic registration went from 11,087 for the primary election on May 21 of this year to 10,962 for the upcoming general election on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Republican numbers were 14,092 to 13,960, respectively.

The Libertarian Party also had less than a 1 percent drop, although that drop represents just one voter, changing from 142 to 141.

All other parties' registration totals increased slightly more than 1.8 percent, with 72 voters more than last May. Other parties include No Affiliation, No Party, the Green Party, Tea Party (other than Republican), Independent, Constitutional and more.

Overall, total voter numbers stand at 29,090 as compared to 29,276 in May, about a 1.6 percent drop.

Pine Grove Township leads the county precincts in total number of voters with 2,113 followed by Pleasant Township with 1,864; Warren East, 1,806; Glade Township, 1,789; Warren Southeast, 1,707 and Conewango Township First, 1,589. The remaining precincts range from Sheffield Township with 1,392 to Bear Lake Borough's 107.

In addition to voters changing parties because of irritation with Congress over the shutdown, there are a number of other reasons why registrations have dropped, according to Lisa Zuck, voter registrar and director of elections.

She said the state is better at reporting deaths, and the Postal Service and the voter registration system are compatible and compare change of address numbers.

There was only one voter registration drive this year, the annual League of Women Voters' high school drive. Estimating numbers from that, she estimated, "I'll be generous. It gave maybe 25 (new voters)."

She called the process "cleaning up," and includes efforts to find married women who may still be registered under their maiden name, and sending letters to anyone who has not voted in five years or two federal elections. If they don't respond, their names are moved to an inactive list.

Zuck said that more people than average have responded to the letters this year, and some indicated they have moved out of the county.

Even though the deadline has passed for registration, that deadline applies to the upcoming election. Voters can still submit paperwork, but it will not be entered until after the election.

Maintaining accurate voter rolls "is a work in progress. It starts again a day after the election is certified," she added. Even though the deadline has passed for registration, that deadline applies to the upcoming election. Voters can still submit paperwork, but it will not be entered until after the election.

Once she has counted the numbers, they are compared with the Sure System, the state's voter registration system.

She added that she didn't expect the voter turnout next month to be any higher than for the primary election last spring, which was 16.4 percent county-wide.